Delivering The Beer

A Truman's Brewery dray delivers beer to a pub in London's docklands in 1949.

The history of Truman's Brewery, located in Spitalfields, dates back to 1666. It was known after the Black Eagle Brewery, named after the street on which it was located. Following takeovers, the name of the company changed to Truman, Hanbury and Buxton. By the mid nineteenth century, this was the largest brewery in the world, producing 400,000 barrels per year.
The popularity of Burton on Trent as a centre of brewing saw Trumans establish a new brewhouse there in the late nineteenth century and production gradually moved away from London.
The Spitalfields site did not finally close however, until  1989 by which time Trumans had become part of the Grand Metropolitan Group.
The Brewery site, covering 10 acres is now home to numerous creative businesses and a centre for the arts and media as well as offering bars, restaurants and independent shops.

The photograph is colourised from an original black and white image by Bert Hardy.